


Parenting

by Starofwinter



Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Domestic, I'm not sure if that's quite the right tag for it but we'll go with it, M/M, Non-Sexual Age Play, Parenthood, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, not quite therapy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-10
Updated: 2018-09-10
Packaged: 2019-07-10 10:50:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15947837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starofwinter/pseuds/Starofwinter
Summary: Sometimes Anomaly needs the chance to be a kid again, to work through the noise in his head.  Kix and Jesse are more than happy to be his dads when he does.





	Parenting

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is tentatively related to the Sex and Candy verse, but I'm not sure if I want to canonize it yet! 
> 
> Many thanks to [Kris,](www.kristsune.tumblr.com) who talked this out with me and encouraged me to write it!

Kix would be the first to admit that he’s nervous about this.  He and Jesse have talked about having kids, but they’ve agreed that they just aren’t prepared for it, especially not with the hours they keep at the club.  This is something else, though. When Anomaly approached them about this, they’d only had to talk about it for a little while before they agreed without hesitation.  How could they not, when Anomaly needed it so badly, and it gave them the opportunity to be the parents they wanted to be?

Still, it was a lot of responsibility, offering someone another chance to be a child.  Anomaly had written everything out in his letter - Kix’s heart ached at the fact that he’d been so afraid they’d reject him that he’d asked them not to open it until he left - about what he was asking for, and what he  _ wasn’t _ .  This was simply a chance for him to go back to his childhood, before the trauma that had shaped him into who he was, and try to start over.  They were determined to do it right, to offer him another chance, to be the parents he’d never had; his own had ensured he had what he needed physically, but they’d been busy and distant, and he’d turned to his peers for the kind of affection and love he’d never had at home.  

Which is why Anomaly is sitting on the floor, coloring in a picture of a dragon, and watching cartoons with Jesse.  His hair is braided back and with that and the oversized hoodie, he almost looks like a little boy. “Jes’buir,” he says, tilting his head back to look at him upside down, “Red or blue for the wings?”  Kix smiles as Jesse leans forward, running a hand over Anomaly’s back as he looks over his shoulder at the picture.

“Well… if you do green, it can be the Christmas dragon.”  Jesse grins as Anomaly giggles. 

“There’s no Christmas dragon, buir.”

“Maybe there is, and you just haven’t seen them yet.”  Jesse winks at him. “A Christmas dragon that helps Santa deliver presents when he gets  _ really _ busy.”

“Uh-huh.”  Anomaly has a dubious look, but it dissolves as Jesse tickles him.  As an adult, Anomaly skitters away from touch that isn’t sexual in nature, but like this, he seems to revel in it, and his bright, happy giggles as he squirms are achingly sweet.  “Buir! Kix’buir, he’s tickling me!”

“Then I guess it’s a good thing I came to tell you dinner’s ready.”  Kix chuckles and shakes his head at them. 

Anomaly bounces off the couch, crayons and Christmas dragon forgotten.  “Chicken nuggets?” he asks hopefully.

Kix nods, grinning at Anomaly’s barely-contained delight.  “The ones you made with Jes’buir last time you were here. Go get cleaned up so we can eat.”

Anomaly hugs him before hurrying off, and Jesse follows him, giving Kix a peck on the lips.  Neither of them miss Anomaly’s fond, warm smile as he catches a glimpse of them, or the way he ducks back into the kitchen.  They know Anomaly is still a little surprised at the warmth of their relationship, and that it’s something of a comfort to him - there’s hope that he can work toward something like they have too.  

Kix’s sentimental thoughts are interrupted by Jesse goosing him as he walks past.  “You were getting that  _ look _ ,” he says with a grin as Kix yelps and swats at him with a towel.  

“I don’t have a  _ look _ .”

“You do, buir,” Anomaly pipes up, with a smile full of mischief.

Kix brandishes the towel at him, and Anomaly grins, ducking behind Jesse.

“Disrespected in my own home, after I spent all of fifteen minutes baking chicken nuggets and making a salad,” he says mournfully, and Anomaly giggles as they sit down to eat.

Kix is always amazed and grateful for how much Anomaly eats when they’re taking care of him; he’s still too thin, but at least this way, they can know that he’s getting some kind of decent nutrition, as opposed to the protein bars or canned food he generally eats, when he manages to eat at all.  Jesse’s started recruiting him into helping with meals, making it  _ fun _ , and Anomaly responds so well when he’s regressed.  

Kix makes sure to praise him when he cleans his plate, and Anomaly  _ beams _ at him, leaning in when Jesse squeezes the back of his neck, though his smile turns into a yawn.  Jesse chuckles. “I saw that, ad’ika, go take a bath while we clean up in here. Kix’buir will be in in a bit to read to you.”

It’s such a simple thing, a bedtime story to help him sleep, but Anomaly had been so hesitant to ask.  He’d told them much later that he’d only asked once for one from his parents, and they’d told him they didn’t have time, and he was old enough to read one to himself.  Now, he has a few to pick from; they’d let him pick them out, and Anomaly’s shy smile when Kix asked which one he wanted the first night had washed away almost all their anger at his parents.

Anomaly picks  _ The Hobbit _ tonight.  It’s his favorite - he loves the voices Kix does, low and gruff for the dwarves, creaky with age for Gandalf, and he makes up tunes for the songs - and it never fails to send him to sleep.  Kix settles into the chair by the bed and opens to the last page they’d read:  _ “As they sang, the hobbit felt the love of beautiful things made by hands and by cunning and by magic moving through him, a fierce and a jealous love, the desire of the hearts of dwarves _ ...”

By the end of the chapter, Anomaly is asleep, curled around his plush tooka and smiling in his sleep.  Kix can’t resist the urge to brush his fingers through silver curls, kissing his forehead before he smooths the blanket over him and turns the light down.  When he looks up, Jesse is leaning against the doorway, a fond smile on his lips, his eyes shining with a love that nearly takes Kix’s breath away. “How’s he doing?”

“He’s okay,” Kix says as he closes the door silently before leaning up to kiss Jesse, “Fell right to sleep.”

Jesse wraps an arm around his waist to pull him in for another kiss.  “I like seeing you both like this,” he says, “You both look happy.”

Kix smiles against his lips.  “I  _ am _ happy.”  

And he is, more than he thought he ever could be.  They have extra responsibility on days like this, but the rewards are more than worth it.  Seeing Anomaly sleeping soundly, the look on Jesse’s face when he calls him  _ Jes’buir _ , that more than makes up for the worries that they might do this  _ wrong _ .  He wouldn’t change this for the world.

**Author's Note:**

> I really loved writing this fic, and I couldn't stop smiling the whole time I was writing it. I hope you like it as much as I do!


End file.
